Internet Of Household Things: Convince Me

MADISON, Wis. — At the risk of sounding a bit curmudgeonly, I have to confess one thing. While there's certainly something positive to be said about the Internet of Things (IoT), I can’t help feeling suspicious, weary, and a bit turned off by the whole idea.

Aside from big-number projections (i.e., Cisco predicts 50 billion IoT devices by 2020), which would tempt anyone into becoming an IoT cheerleader, I haven’t seen a single credible-use scenario that might lure the average consumer onto the IoT bandwagon.

Honestly, it creeps me out to think about my devices at home talking to one another, doing stuff without my involvement, and talking about my habits -- good and bad -- to total strangers (advertisers, service providers, or just more machines) behind my back. There’s nothing warm and fuzzy about this. At all.

Smart LED lightbulbs hacked I’m sure you’ve all heard about an incident, reported last week, in which smart LED lightbulbs leaked WiFi passwords.

Former beat reporter, bureau chief, and editor in chief of EE Times, Junko Yoshida now spends a lot of her time covering the global electronics industry with a particular focus on China. Her beat has always been emerging technologies and business models that enable a new ... View Full Bio

"The Samsung developer conference will also further support these areas. Stronger partnerships can also give developers more incentive to develop IoT technologies. "

MDM, Yes Samsung can be the lead because they have many home appliances and automated devices. For some of them they can just add communication devices, so that it can be get connected or talk to the next stage devices.

"Yes, I've even heard that some dryers can steam out wrinkles. But I want an appliance that is smart enough to also figure out where all the clothes go and to get them there. I'm willing to teach it the first time around, but then it should be equipped with machine learning that makes it recall where the clothese should go. "

"Samsung already has developer support of its community with its development of Smart Home. Recently, talks of a potential deal with SmartThings would bring even more power to the home user of such devices. IoT and Smart Home connections have great growth potential."

MDM , agreed they already have arrange of home appliances. They need to fix with IoT based self talking modules.

@Gigi, Samsung already has developer support of its community with its development of Smart Home. Recently, talks of a potential deal with SmartThings would bring even more power to the home user of such devices. IoT and Smart Home connections have great growth potential.

I think the biggest concern is how do we balance functionality that comes with having advanced statistics which can give us more efficient appliances and more functionality, with privacy and protection that our data isn't being used for unauthorized purposes like modelling consumer behavior and customer profiling that comes from pulling data from devices by the manufacturers. As smart devices and the IoT continues to invade our lifestyles, we need to ensure the right policies and protections are in place to protect user privacy.

@Gigi3 Yes, I've even heard that some dryers can steam out wrinkles. But I want an appliance that is smart enough to also figure out where all the clothes go and to get them there. I'm willing to teach it the first time around, but then it should be equipped with machine learning that makes it recall where the clothese should go.

Recently, our local Brighthouse Cable company began heavily advertising its IoT services, primarily promoting its security offerings but also integrating its connected home. One thing that cracks me up is it does a close-up on a connected blender, operated by an app. I don't know about you, but I always put my hand on top of the blender lid when I'm mixing up a batch of margaritas, ever since the lid popped off at a party one night. And since a lot of blender items require ice, I'm not sure how tasty they'd be if you set up your blender before leaving for work: Your tequila and lime mix would be very watered down, eight to 10 hours later!

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